Photocopiers, printers and like equipment are in widespread use in commercial and office environments. Such equipment generally has a compartment or bin in which a stack of sheets of paper is placed for use by the machine during its operation.
The paper for use in such machines generally has been packaged in individual reams covered with a ream wrap material to assist in maintaining the proper condition of the paper, and the wrapped reams are then placed in a cardboard or similar box for shipment and storage. When the need arises for loading paper into a photocopier, printer, or the like, a box is opened and one or more reams of paper are removed from the box, the ream wrap removed, and the paper placed in the bin or other compartment of the machine for supplying paper to the machine during its operation.
This manner of packaging paper for use in such machines has not posed a problem for relatively low volume, low speed machines, since such machines typically hold only one or two reams or even less paper, and use it relatively slowly. However, relatively high speed, high volume photocopiers, printers and similar machines have come into more widespread usage, and these machines generally have relatively large paper holding capacities in order to provide an adequate supply of paper for the greater rate of use due to their higher speed of operation. In spite of the large paper holding capacity of such machines it may be necessary to frequently replenish the supply of paper in the bin. With conventional packaging, it can take considerable time to open the box and then remove and open individual reams of paper so that the paper can be stacked one ream at a time in the supply bin of the machine, which may typically hold five or more reams of paper.
Efforts have been made to solve this problem, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,556,210, 4,770,301, 4,802,586 and 4,830,186. These patents disclose various packaging concepts for loading large quantities of paper into the supply bin of a photocopy machine without the necessity of opening individual reams of paper. In these patents, the receptacle for the paper either comprises a specialized device that is intended for use only at the location of the machine, or the carton or package of paper must be at least partially opended before it is placed on the elevator platform of the supply bin in the photocopier or other machine. The remaining part of the carton is then manipulated so that it can be removed from the bin, leaving the paper stacked on the platform. All of these patents (except U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,186) involve fairly complex and expensive constructions. The complexity of their construction increases the difficultly of use. Thus, while the prior art packages enable a large quantity of paper to be stacked in the supply bin of a photocopier or similar machine without requiring individual reams of paper to be opened, the prior art devices are relatively complex and expensive in construction, and/or relatively cumbersome to use, thereby at least partially offsetting the advantages gained by eliminating the need to open and handle individual reams of paper.
Several variations of bin loader package offering solutions to the shortcomings of prior art packages are proposed in co-pending application Ser. No. 08/597,949, commonly owned with this application. The present application is directed to further improved bin loader packages which overcome the shortcomings of prior art packages. The present invention thus fulfills the need for a simple and inexpensive package which enables a large quantity of paper to be quickly and easily supplied to the paper supply bin of a photocopier or printer or other machine, without the necessity of separately handling individual reams of paper.